THE word home can mean something different to each person.
To Freetown Collective co-founder and lead vocalist Muhammad Muwakil, it’s a union.
To co-founder and guitarist Lou Lyons, it’s a feeling of belonging.
So when they sing, “Take me home, take me to a place where meh heart doh feel no pain,” they underscore their longing to bask in that peace and comfort.
The groovy track has been getting love for the 2025 Carnival season so far and is projected to continue doing so post-season because of its message.
They will be performing this song, and many others, at Welcome To Freetown 2025 on February 23 at SoundForge, Port of Spain.
Take Me Home was produced by Kitwana “AdvoKit Productions” Israel and Mevon “XplicitMevon” Soodeen. It was written by Muwakil, Lyons, Israel and Soodeen.
Lyons did guitars and bass, with background vocals from the Freetown Trinity (Tishanna Williams, Malene Joseph, Shanna Joseph).
Soodeen and Israel also did backup vocals, and Israel mixed and mastered it.
[caption id="attachment_1140525" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Cover art for Freetown Collective's Take Me Home. -[/caption]
Muwakil sings, “Ah go cross any ocean to find it/Won’t let no mountain get in d way. We come cross d water, been through the fire/Ah know dat meh heart go show meh d way.”
He explains that everywhere they turn, they see people smiling and do not see creed or race.
“Ah doh want nobody tell we bout leavin’/We fight fuh we ting and this is we place.”
With a beautiful blend of harmonies, they sing: Take me home.
Making their patriotism clear, he later sings, “Marry me to the heart of Port of Spain, so if I ever leave I bound to come again…Protect we island, father, we pray, until d very end ah we days.”
Homecoming love
Muwakil told Sunday Newsday they contacted “Kit” (Israel) last year to work on music. They had started a completely different track but concluded: The vibe of it wasn’t there and something was missing.
They met up again and tried something else, but that got scrapped too.
But Muwakil believes they eventually drew inspiration from Israel when he said he’s trying to incorporate more elements of kaiso and calypso into his productions.
[caption id="attachment_1140465" align="alignnone" width="819"] Co-founder of Freetown Collective Muhammad Muwakil during a visit to Newsday's Port of Spain office on February 20. - Photo by Jeff K. Mayers[/caption]
“Lou started playing a couple chords on the guitar and before you know it, we had a couple of lines going and felt like we were going in the right direction.”
And so, the song found its way home.
Israel said since he regularly works with Soodeen, he invited him to the initial studio session.
This was September 5, 2024.
“We met and the four of us started the project from scratch. We didn't have anything, we didn't have any plan, aim, goal…It was just about good vibes.
“Lou and I started to make some music collaboratively while Mevon and Muhammad were trying to make sense of what we should sing about and what melo
